Jogging In Place
by abercrombieprep
Summary: Sydney life becomes an impossible struggle :The sequel to The Vital Spark:
1. Frantic

Disclaimer- If I owned them, do you think I'd have shown a rerun last week???? NO!  
  
Author's Note- Hey guys! It's finally here! I finally got the first chapter of Jogging in Place up! It's a sequel to The Vital Spark, also written by me. LOL. More chapter should be up soon, as I've got the whole thing written, so it's not like I have to write it! I hope you all like it, and I'd really appreciate it if you replied. It's so much work to do this, and I'd really like to hear your comments. Good, bad or indifferent, I'd love to hear! So reply for goodness sakes! There's no way I'm going to post here if I think you don't like it!  
  
Jogging In Place  
  
Chapter One  
  
Frantic  
  
  
  
Michael sighed. His wife couldn't remember the last three years of her life. She couldn't remember the day they took down SD-6, their first date, their wedding day. She could only remember the saddest, darkest days of her life. Just yesterday they had been laughing together while planning a trip to Haiti. Now there was no laughing. He looked at her. She was so beautiful, even with a bruise on her forehead.  
  
Yesterday had been a normal day. In retrospect, all days begin normal. There are no letters from God in your mailbox warning of traumatic experiences later that day. The newspaper's headlines didn't scream that his wife would forget everything they had worked for. He had gotten up, gotten dressed and had a croissant with his wife. His wife, who could remember everything. Soon enough he had to leave for work, and he kissed his wife goodbye, not knowing that the next time he would see her she would be unconscious.  
  
As the story goes, Sydney had gone over to Francie's house to help with Francie's daughter Tara. Francie was going stir-crazy with her daughter, and needed an adult to talk to. Will, Francie's husband, had left Francie and Tara at home for a week while he worked on a news story. Once again Sydney and Francie's day together began normal. They had put Tara to bed and were talking about what had happened on All My Children yesterday when they heard a scamper of tiny footsteps. Sydney had gone upstairs to investigate and slipped on Tara's blanket in the middle of the stairwell. She fell all the way back down and hit her head on the tile below. She remained conscious for a few moments, long enough to tell Francie she was all right before she closed her eyes, not to be woken until today.  
  
When I arrived home I found a frantic Francie. She told me that Sydney had fallen down the stairs and had knocked herself out. She explained that she had not called an ambulance because Sydney had said she was all right. I agreed that if Sydney had remained alert for a few moments, she was probably fine. I took her home and laid her down in our bed. I took a post next to our bed, Donovan outside the door of the room. I never moved until this morning, when she opened her beautiful eyes. I knew something was wrong, because she called me Vaughn. She only resorted to Vaughn in moments of desperation now. It never crossed my mind that she called me Vaughn only because she didn't know my name. It never crossed my mind that when I asked her if she was all right, that she was far from it. It did however cross my mind when she told me to get back in bed because I was sick.  
  
Me sick, I questioned. She agreed that I was very sick; we had all just been poisoned by cyanide. I didn't want to believe it, but she confirmed my fears by asking if her dad had talked to Sloane recently. I wanted to scream. Sloane was locked in a solitary confinement cell in a maximum- security prison, surrounded by guards at all time. I was pretty sure her father had not talked to him, but I was even surer that she had amnesia. I realized that maybe, just maybe I could jog her memory for her. After finding out the last thing she remembered was reading To Kill A Mockingbird together, I pulled out our old and worn copy. Since that day it had become our favorite book, and we often spent rainy evening curled up reading it together. I sat down and began to read the classic tale of Maycomb County's people.  
  
And now I was here. Sitting holding a book, reading to a wife who couldn't remember that we were married. Who couldn't remember that I loved her.  
  
  
  
Please review.... 


	2. Chloe

Disclaimer- Obviously, no tengo un Michael Vartan. Damn.  
  
Author's Note- This is sad. Very sad. It's made people cry. You have been warned.  
  
Feedback- Reply here, or e-mail me at kdirectorate@mindless.com  
  
  
  
Jogging In Place  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Chloe  
  
  
  
Michael watched his wife. Her eyes were wandering, taking in the details of the room. Her room that she had spent months decorating. It was perfection within four white, silk covered walls. Her head turned back to him. Her eyes stared at him. Slowly she turned away and walked out of the room, on her journey through their house.  
  
He put his head in his hands. He had lost his wife for a year once, he wasn't going to do it again. Their bathroom medicine cabinet was proof of the fact that his wife had once gone astray, leaving him to wish she was with him. Bottles of Prozac and Celexa piled in, surrounded by mega- strength ibuprofen, with bottles of sleeping pills thrown in the strew. Most of them were half-full, except for the depression medicine. Those had been emptied time and time again, always replaced with a new bottle. The dates on those bottles were recent, as if to say Sydney wasn't strong enough. She would always need them. Each bottle told a story, each bottle held the contents of a horrific time in Michael Vaughn's life.  
  
Three years and eight months had passed since he had first heard the news. Her face had glowed with a radiance that could only be described by one word. Motherhood. They had been nervous at first. Telling Jack that Sydney was going to be an unwed mother for a while scared both of them, but Jack had received the news well. He was smart, and he knew Michael would never leave his daughter. Laura, also took the news well. She had been released from custody and was living a regular life, and was ecstatic that she would be a grandmother. Alex also was overjoyed that he would be an uncle. Even Francie and Will were delighted at the news. No one could ever top Michael and Sydney's joy however.  
  
Nine months later, he found himself face to face with his tiny bundle of joy. Chloe Jacqueline Vaughn. His very own daughter. She had her mother's chestnut hair and her father's hazel eyes. She was a fast learner, walking at nine months, talking by twenty months. She surprised both her parent's by her apparent advanced mind. She had always been an angel, never crying or screaming. There were no tantrums at the local grocer, never a time out at home. The flower girl at her parents wedding, she had looked like an angel in the pale pastel pink dress, roses in her hair and baby's breath and lilies in her basket.  
  
They never knew exactly what had happened. Sydney had been making Jell-O for a cookout later that week and had turned on the stove to boil water. Being the mother she made sure to turn the handle away from the edge, even though Chloe knew to stay away from the stove. Chloe was always safe, repeating the word hot when her mother used the stove, as if warning Sydney to stay away. The phone rang and Sydney went to answer it. Turning away to look at the calendar in the room adjacent to kitchen, she heard the scream. Apparently, Chloe had slipped on the rug next to the stove. Trying to catch herself she grabbed on to something. How she grabbed the handle, we'll never know. Sydney turned to see the scalding water cascading down Chloe's body.  
  
He got the call at work. He was in a meeting with Devlin when he was told to go to the emergency room. Something had happened to Chloe. Upon arriving he was whisked to the Burn Center in the Intensive Care Unit. There was his angel, covered in gauze. She fought for thirty-eight hours, until her dance with death ended. Throughout it all, she never cried. It was as if God had taken away all her pain.  
  
As soon as she died Sydney was thrown into deep depression. Blaming herself for Chloe's death, she didn't eat for days at a time. Within a month of Chloe's death she had lost nearly 50 pounds, and was very ill. It was then that Sydney began to receive medicine. Even with it, she wouldn't talk or sleep. When she did sleep she was haunted by nightmares and spent half the night screaming uncontrollably. She pushed Michael out of her life, feeling it was the only way to protect him. They were that way for a year, and then Sydney began to open up to him.  
  
And now she was closed off to him again, and this time he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't take the pain away, and sooner or later she was going to ask questions. How was he going to explain the last year to her? 


	3. Cry

A/N- Sorry this has literally taken forever to post, but things have been crazy because of school and the holidays. I'll try and post a bunch of chapters tonight, but you have to review! 

Jogging In Place  
Chapter Three  
  
  
Sydney sat on a couch. She was obviously in the family room, as the couch was well worn. She had known something was wrong when she awoke. First clue, the room. The lavishly decorated room was not the room she had fallen asleep in. Then, she felt the presence beside her. She had jumped out of the bed carrying the white satin sheets with her. She remembered the entire confrontation.  
  
  
_"What the hell do you think you're pulling Vaughn?" She had questioned roughly.  
  
"What are you talking about sweetie?" He asked sweetly.  
  
"Sweetie? Sweetie? Are you out of your mind? What are you doing in bed with me, and calling me sweetie. What if someone here's you? Alex will kick you right out of his house. Trying to make a move on me. Do you even know what you're doing to my mind?" She had asked in a panicked tone.  
  
"Alex's house? We're at our house! Why would we be at Alex's house? The wedding is not for another week," he had stated, the fear in his voice.  
  
"What wedding? I fell asleep at Alex's house reading to you! Why in the name of Mary would we be anywhere else? We don't have a house! I think maybe the cyanide has had an effect, I'll call the doctor," and with that she left the room, searching for the neurologist. Vaughn came chasing after her and pulled her back into the bedroom.  
  
"Syd,, you have to tell me the last thing you remember. It's very important," he stated, thoroughly worried.  
  
"We were reading together. And I fell asleep. I just got back from Russia."  
  
"Oh God! Oh no… please Syd, tell me which book we were reading."  
  
"To Kill A Mockingbird. Why?"  
  
"You have amnesia, or at least that's what I think. You hit your head yesterday, knocked yourself out. And you obviously can't remember the last three years."_  
  
  
His words rang in her ears. The last three years. She looked down to her left hand. Sure enough she had a large diamond and sapphire engagement ring on and a wedding band. She pulled the rings off to thoroughly examine them. Inside the wedding band, neatly inscribed were the words: "No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent." She smiled slightly at the remembered words. Martin Shepard. She supposed that this line had more of a meaning to her and Vaughn than it did to Shepard.  
  
Placing her rings back on she began to search around the room for anything that would give her insight about herself. It was obvious that they were by no means poor, in fact from the lavish furnishings and spacious rooms it appeared to her that she and Vaughn had quiet a large amount of money. Suddenly she spotted an album on the bookshelf. She pulled it out and situated herself on the couch once more. The album was covered in dust, appearing that it had not been open in quiet some time.  
  
The first pictures were of the day SD-6 was taken down. Several showed Sloane, as well as other ranking employees being walked off in chains. Another showed her with her father, Devlin, Dixon, and finally Vaughn. From then on the pictures began to show the obvious relationship between the two. Pictures from hockey games and bowling games, pictures with friends and family. She continued to flip through the pages until one caught her eye. It was of her and Vaughn, but what caught her eye the most was the prominent bulge in her stomach. She looked down incredulously and lifted up her shirt to reveal her stomach. Had she really been pregnant?  
  
The rest of the pictures seemed to enhance the subject until she came upon a photo of her and Vaughn holding a newborn. Across the bottom of the page were the medical bands from the hospital. She had a daughter, with Vaughn, named Chloe Jacqueline. She questioned her sanity at that point. She didn't even like the name Chloe. The rest of the pictures seemed to follow Chloe, through her first days to her first word, first step, until suddenly it ended. She looked around for another album. There were none to be found. Deciding that the child must be still in the house she decided to find her daughter for herself.   
  
After she searched every room thoroughly and yielding no results she returned to Vaughn. She found him crying softly into his hands.  
  
Softly she asked "Where's Chloe?"  
  
He shook his head and responded "She's not here," before the sobs overtook his voice, and his body.   
  
  



	4. Truth

**A/N- Okay, so its taken me forever to come and update (main reason being I'm lazy, and busy) but you don't have to worry. I'll get my butt in gear and update. But that means I want some reviews! I'm a demanding author. LOL!**

Jogging In Place  
Chapter Four

Truth  
  
  
Sydney ran up to Vaughn and slowly stroked his back gently. She could sense in the atmosphere, like some sort of feng-shui kung-fu vibe, that something was seriously wrong. The sobs wracked his body for almost an hour before he slowly took a breath and looked at her.   
  
"She's gone. She… she passed away last year," he said, struggling to get each word out.  
  
Sydney gasped. She was horrified. Her baby, her own flesh and blood had died, and she couldn't even remember. "What happened," she asked timidly.  
  
"She… she… obtained third degree burns on 90 percent of her body. She fought it, but in the end an infection overtook her. She never felt any pain," he said, barely above a whisper.  
  
"Oh God! How did she do that? Was there a fire?"  
  
"No. Boiling water. It pored down her body, burning her as it went."  
  
Sydney studied his eyes for a second. She may not remember marrying him, but she could remember loving him. "It was my fault, wasn't it? I killed our daughter, didn't I?"  
  
"No Syd. It was an accident. You can't blame yourself… please. You spent the last year in deep depression. You can't return to that state. I won't let you," he said with defiance.  
  
Sydney's eyes filled with tears. Hearing Vaughn's tone she tried not to blame herself, but she couldn't stop from calling herself a murder. She summed up all of her courage, and let out a deep sigh, turning back to Vaughn. "Tell me all I can't remember. Every last detail."  
  
He cracked a smile for about one one-millionth of a second before regaining his somber tone. "Can we get breakfast first? That way you can think of all the little details you want to know."  
  
Sydney nodded. Although she couldn't be more depressed about her daughter, it was obvious that Vaughn couldn't handle her being too upset. Instead she put on a slightly bright façade and followed him to the kitchen.  
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Sydney stared at her husband. She had never thought that Vaughn could cook, and even more so, he could cook well. Biting down on her egg she thought of something she wanted to know and added it to her list. The list as she called it, had already taken up a good half of the notebook page, and she was just getting started.  
  
"So what's the first thing you want to know?" Vaughn inquired.  
  
Sydney looked down at her list. "What day was SD-6 taken down? What happened, what was it like?" she said not pausing to breathe.  
  
"Ok," he said chuckling lightly, "Well, it was taken down on November 24th. It was a happy day, I don't think I'd seen you happier up to that day. Sloane and all his little buddies were taken into custody. That night we had a huge party at Francie's restaurant. The whole CIA was there I think. You finally explained 'those damn pizza place calls' I think is what Francie called it. Francie was surprised, and I think she respects you a lot more. Either that or she's afraid you'll kick her ass."  
  
"When did we start dating?" she asked, trying to avoid his eyes.   
  
"Amazingly enough, November 25th. I guess we were kinda in a hurry," he said, cupping her face and bringing her eyes to his.  
  
"Right, and what's up with Alex, Francie, Will, my mom, and my dad? Are they all right?"   
  
"They're all ok. Alex is engaged; he's going to be married in a week. His fiancé, Kelsi, is a real nice girl. You like her a lot. And Francie, well I suppose she's all right. She's been left for a week with Tara. Will's good too, always the reporter. He's doing a great job, doing a lot of special articles. You're mom is out of prison. She's trying to start a new life, and doing a good job at that. She's teaching at an elementary around here. And your dad is the director of the CIA branch here in LA."  
  
"Wow. What do I do? What am I like?"  
  
"Well, you work at the CIA too. Yep, you, Jack, and I. I think you're a bit uncomfortable at work though. You're often greeted with 'Oh, you took down SD-6! Congratulations.' or 'I know your father.' I think you want to try and live up to his name. When you're not at work you're at Francie's. Tara's going through that rambunctious stage, and with her dad being gone so much, Francie needs a helping hand."  
  
"I suspect Tara is Francie's daughter. Who is Francie's husband?"  
  
"Will."  
  
Sydney spit out the water she had just took a sip of. Francie and Will were married? That had to be an interesting family. "Oh, ok," Sydney said as her laughing died down.  
  
"I think that was your reaction the first time around too. They really do make a good couple."  
  
"When did we get married? What was it like?"  
  
"We got married last year on the 2nd of March. It was perfect. It was sunny and everyone was happy. You picked out the most beautiful gowns, you had people practically begging to be one of the bridesmaids," Vaughn said smiling. He got up and left the room. He soon returned with an album.   
  
Slowly they turned the pages together. Vaughn explained every picture, leaving no detail untouched. Sydney could almost see the wedding in her mind, smell the fresh flowers, taste the cake, and feel the dancing. She could remember her own middle name for all she cared, but she would never forget her love for Vaughn.

**Review… please… I'm begging. See me? Begging. PLEASE REVIEW!******


	5. Frankenstein

**A/N- Oh look at that… two chapters in one day.** Aren't you special? YES YOU ARE! LOL! By the way, I'll state the blatantly obvious for legal purposes. I don't own Alias. Tragic, but true. I don't own Frankenstein, or Spaghetti O's (but I have some in my pantry) and Where's Waldo (because if you can't find him, you can't own him). Or Mercedes (but that's my name in Spanish class). I'm just a fourteen year old trying to make a living! ****

Jogging In Place  
Chapter Five

Frankenstein  
  
"So do you want me to call in sick for work, or do you think you'll be okay on your own?" Vaughn asked timidly. Sydney had never truly gotten over her 'independence issue' as Vaughn called it. If you stuck her in a forest full of bears with a granola bar and offered to give her help she wouldn't take it.   
  
"Why would you call in sick? You're not sick are you?" Sydney asked, not catching the drift.  
  
"I meant do you want me to stay with you or not?" he asked. He looked at her squarely. Since they had gotten married it had become easier to talk to her, she was even more open than before. Sometimes however, it could be like talking to a brick wall.  
  
"Why would you stay with me? I'm quiet capable on my own you know."  
  
"Because you can't remember anything! You'll probably end up getting yourself locked in a closet or lost in the basement!"  
  
"Well don't beat around the bush! Come right out and say what you mean," Sydney grinned. She knew she was egging him on and it thrilled her when the lines of stress were smoothed away from his brow.  
  
"Would you like me to stay or go?" he asked smiling at her.   
  
"Well… you could stay. I'm pretty sure you don't want to come home to me locked in some closet. I'm sure that would be pretty traumatic. But then again you could leave. Of course, if you're afraid I'll get lost in the basement and find a stack of dead bodies or something you should probably stay. The choice is yours."  
  
"Hmmmm… I better stay home. Wouldn't want you to run into my latest experiment down in the basement. I'm calling him Frankenstein," he said winking at her, "I'll stay. Frankenstein can be unfriendly at times."  
  
"Oh, I see. Thanks for protecting me!"   
  
"So is there anything else you want to know?"  
  
"How about the grand tour. I'm pretty sure I looked in every room, but I don't know the purpose for them. There sure are a lot."  
**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**  
  
  
"So this is the living room," Michael announced after reaching the grand room. Filled with odds and ends from what seemed to be every place around the globe, it took Sydney's breath away.  
  
"Oh wow. Look at the pictures!" Sydney walked over to the grand piano, which was covered in elegant frames highlighting each person of importance in Sydney's life.  
  
"After I bought you that frame it became sort of an obsession. I'd buy you one in every country I traveled to and set it aside. After my run-in with Barnett about the first one, I thought I'd hold back for a while. Now you get one for every holiday, whenever I go out of the country, or whenever I feel like it. Our house is overrun with frames. We probably have more than Martha Stewart," he explained as she looked over each one.  
  
She held up a picture of Alex. "You said he's getting married. Why?"  
  
"Well usually you do that kind of thing when you're in love." Sensing her glare he quickly added, "We're flying out in two days to be at the wedding. You're one of the bridesmaids, although I might add the dresses are not nearly as beautiful as yours were." He slipped his arm lovingly around her waist, and quickly removed it when he heard Sydney gasp.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, obviously upset.  
  
"Sorry, sorry. I forgot you weren't used to that. I'm used to you being my wife. Wives and husbands do that sort of thing."  
  
"Sorry, I'm just not comfortable. The last thing I remember is not the last thing you remember. The last time you had your arms around me was when I learned the truth about my mother. Or at least in my mind it is. It's going to take some time for me to get used to this whole ordeal."  
  
"Well, hopefully you won't have to get used to it. I'm going to take you to the doctors' tomorrow and have them check you out."  
  
"Oh really?" Sydney said, raising her eyebrow.  
  
Michael stood, utterly confused. "Not in that way you sicko! I'm meant I'm going to have them check up on you. Not check you out."  
  
"Sure sure… that's what they all say!" Drifting away from him and into the hallway they continued their journey through the house, through time.  
**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**  
  
  
Soon enough they found themselves back in the kitchen. Looking around in the refrigerator Michael pulled out their possible lunch fare. "Macaroni and Cheese or Spaghetti O's?"  
  
"Geez, do I actually eat that food?" Sydney wondered aloud.  
  
"Nope. This is Tara's food. The grown-up selection is McDonald's or Wendy's," he said grabbing his keys off the rack.   
  
"Why are we going out?"  
  
"We don't have any food. I mean, unless you want Where's Waldo ravioli or something of that nature, which I doubt. We cleaned out most of our food so it wouldn't spoil while we we're in Maine." Dragging him out the door and into his very-posh looking Mercedes, Sydney decided against Waldo.

**Review… por favor. It makes me happy!******


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